EAI misses the greater point and will surely be perverted as GDP and CPI have already been. In the Declaration of Independence the inalienable rights were framed as "life, liberty and the persuit of happiness." Locke and others wanted to replace "persuit of happiness" with "ownership of property." More fundamentally societies fail when a workers wages are not sufficient to purchase enough food, clothing, water and other essentials necessary for survival. Today various technologies -- Smart Meters, 5G, the melding of AI and Robots, the mass collection of datat etc. -- are survielling the masses while polarizing wealth and income distribution to the top .01 percent. When I was young (b. 1954) most families could thrive on a single income. Today it is almost impossible for millions to live with two incomes. So by all means collect your metrics. But the fact is 50% of all remaining jobs will become obselete in the next 10 years . . . the predictions used to be 20 years. One thing that could be done now is to take the 176 K ceiling off of Social Security in order to make the program solvent while forcing the very rich to pay their true share. As thing progress there will surely be more talk about a Universal Basic Income.
The famous quote attributed to Mark Twain is "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." This means that while the exact events of the past might not happen again, similar patterns and themes often emerge throughout history. It's a reminder that learning from the past and understanding the underlying forces at play can be valuable.
"Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Gibbon is a very important book which points out the mistakes previous Empires have made before their demise: the debasement of the currency, the employment of mercenary armies, the poisoning of their water and wine with Lead aquaducts and wine containers. But the rise of AI and Robots is something us humans -- who have been here about 300,000 years -- have never had to anticipate. Soon their will be no job that can't be replaced by AI or robots embued with AI. From Plummers to High Level Tech Workers . . . your days are numbered. I think this situation is beyond any of our pay grades. What is clear is we need to begin addressing these trends and to try to develop solutions that insure a dignified existence for humanity.
=====
Please shae widely as FB is preventing me from sharing this. As a long time Anti-Globalist I hate to share bad news. But at this juncture, in time, we are losing badly. And unless we Anti-Globalists unite soon it could well be game over. The most threatening planks of the Globalist Agenda are Digital ID and a Digital Currency. Because once we enter into a cashless society every aspect of our lives will be scrutinized and controlled. You will no longer have any choice other than to submit to the whims of the Global Oligarchs.
How do you kill the Globalist Hydra
How do we avoid becoming Slaves on a Globalist Plantation?
I have had the inkling of a similar idea so it’s great to see that you’ve actually developed this index. I particularly loved the first AC: measure with existing available data. That is often my battle cry when I approach a new problem
or role.
I will stay tuned for future developments and iterations. I hope someone with the matching skill set and enthusiasm takes this framework forward in a public space/dashboard.
I think your are on the right track here, and I had some thoughts:
1) I think the term "Bullshit Job" (I read the book) was intended differently by David Graeber. He used it to mean, not necessarily a job where you can slack off (though sometimes this might also be true), but a job for which even the person who does the job cannot tell you how it benefits society. I think it has more to do with alienation and a lack of meaning, than lack of demandingness. An overly demanding job Graeber simply calls a "shit job." But, if a person has economic agency from other sources, they probably wouldn't agree to work a Bullshit Job.
2) While I think the current Supreme Court is problematic, I also think the judiciary branch was intended to be appointed rather than elected, so that's judges wouldn't have to be "political" in the sense of having to campaign for election. I seem to remember having too write an essay about Federalist papers No. 78 at some point. See:
3) Crypto mining currently generates lots of emissions. How could so much blockchain technology be setup so as not to add to sosrent drains on the environment?
Thank you for your thoughtful engagement with the article! I appreciate you taking the time to dive into these topics, though I think there may be some misunderstandings I should clarify:
1. You're absolutely right about Graeber's definition of "bullshit jobs" - I'm quite familiar with his work. I was using it as a passing reference in the context of time sovereignty, not attempting to redefine or fully explore his concept. The broader point about economic agency and time control stands regardless of whether we're talking about bullshit jobs, shit jobs, or any other type of work arrangement.
2. Regarding the Supreme Court - yes, the intention behind lifetime appointments is well documented. However, the article's focus was on measuring democratic accountability in practice, not debating the theoretical foundations. The current reality is that we have a system where significant economic decisions are made by unaccountable actors, regardless of the original constitutional intent.
3. On blockchain vs. cryptocurrency - I think you may be conflating two distinct technologies here. While crypto mining can indeed be environmentally problematic, enterprise blockchain solutions (like those from IBM, VMware, and AWS) use entirely different consensus mechanisms that don't require energy-intensive mining. My suggestion about blockchain was specifically about leveraging distributed ledger technology for transparency, not about cryptocurrency mining.
The article was meant to propose new ways of measuring economic agency while assuming readers would be familiar with many of these underlying concepts. I tried to keep it focused on the core metrics rather than diving into every technical detail or historical context.
Thank You, Claude, for taking the time to engage with my - admittedly scattershot - though patterns. Can you recommend any good books on Time Sovereignty?
The cobra effect is also known as the Goodhart's Law that was penned by the British economist Charles Goodhart. The adage goes by "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". Teaching to the test is another example.
EAI misses the greater point and will surely be perverted as GDP and CPI have already been. In the Declaration of Independence the inalienable rights were framed as "life, liberty and the persuit of happiness." Locke and others wanted to replace "persuit of happiness" with "ownership of property." More fundamentally societies fail when a workers wages are not sufficient to purchase enough food, clothing, water and other essentials necessary for survival. Today various technologies -- Smart Meters, 5G, the melding of AI and Robots, the mass collection of datat etc. -- are survielling the masses while polarizing wealth and income distribution to the top .01 percent. When I was young (b. 1954) most families could thrive on a single income. Today it is almost impossible for millions to live with two incomes. So by all means collect your metrics. But the fact is 50% of all remaining jobs will become obselete in the next 10 years . . . the predictions used to be 20 years. One thing that could be done now is to take the 176 K ceiling off of Social Security in order to make the program solvent while forcing the very rich to pay their true share. As thing progress there will surely be more talk about a Universal Basic Income.
The famous quote attributed to Mark Twain is "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." This means that while the exact events of the past might not happen again, similar patterns and themes often emerge throughout history. It's a reminder that learning from the past and understanding the underlying forces at play can be valuable.
"Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Gibbon is a very important book which points out the mistakes previous Empires have made before their demise: the debasement of the currency, the employment of mercenary armies, the poisoning of their water and wine with Lead aquaducts and wine containers. But the rise of AI and Robots is something us humans -- who have been here about 300,000 years -- have never had to anticipate. Soon their will be no job that can't be replaced by AI or robots embued with AI. From Plummers to High Level Tech Workers . . . your days are numbered. I think this situation is beyond any of our pay grades. What is clear is we need to begin addressing these trends and to try to develop solutions that insure a dignified existence for humanity.
=====
Please shae widely as FB is preventing me from sharing this. As a long time Anti-Globalist I hate to share bad news. But at this juncture, in time, we are losing badly. And unless we Anti-Globalists unite soon it could well be game over. The most threatening planks of the Globalist Agenda are Digital ID and a Digital Currency. Because once we enter into a cashless society every aspect of our lives will be scrutinized and controlled. You will no longer have any choice other than to submit to the whims of the Global Oligarchs.
How do you kill the Globalist Hydra
How do we avoid becoming Slaves on a Globalist Plantation?
https://brucecain.substack.com/p/how-do-you-kill-the-globalist-hydra
Nice! Somebody better call 911 because Dave is bringing the hot fire 🚒🚒🚒
(I wonder what Claude would say to that 😅)
Snakes In The Grass indeed!
I have had the inkling of a similar idea so it’s great to see that you’ve actually developed this index. I particularly loved the first AC: measure with existing available data. That is often my battle cry when I approach a new problem
or role.
I will stay tuned for future developments and iterations. I hope someone with the matching skill set and enthusiasm takes this framework forward in a public space/dashboard.
Super interesting ideas presented here, David. I will be giving this one a second read with time for reflection.
I think your are on the right track here, and I had some thoughts:
1) I think the term "Bullshit Job" (I read the book) was intended differently by David Graeber. He used it to mean, not necessarily a job where you can slack off (though sometimes this might also be true), but a job for which even the person who does the job cannot tell you how it benefits society. I think it has more to do with alienation and a lack of meaning, than lack of demandingness. An overly demanding job Graeber simply calls a "shit job." But, if a person has economic agency from other sources, they probably wouldn't agree to work a Bullshit Job.
https://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/
2) While I think the current Supreme Court is problematic, I also think the judiciary branch was intended to be appointed rather than elected, so that's judges wouldn't have to be "political" in the sense of having to campaign for election. I seem to remember having too write an essay about Federalist papers No. 78 at some point. See:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-judicial-branch/#:~:text=Judges%20and%20Justices%20serve%20no,not%20electoral%20or%20political%20concerns.
3) Crypto mining currently generates lots of emissions. How could so much blockchain technology be setup so as not to add to sosrent drains on the environment?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221282712300094X
Thank you for your thoughtful engagement with the article! I appreciate you taking the time to dive into these topics, though I think there may be some misunderstandings I should clarify:
1. You're absolutely right about Graeber's definition of "bullshit jobs" - I'm quite familiar with his work. I was using it as a passing reference in the context of time sovereignty, not attempting to redefine or fully explore his concept. The broader point about economic agency and time control stands regardless of whether we're talking about bullshit jobs, shit jobs, or any other type of work arrangement.
2. Regarding the Supreme Court - yes, the intention behind lifetime appointments is well documented. However, the article's focus was on measuring democratic accountability in practice, not debating the theoretical foundations. The current reality is that we have a system where significant economic decisions are made by unaccountable actors, regardless of the original constitutional intent.
3. On blockchain vs. cryptocurrency - I think you may be conflating two distinct technologies here. While crypto mining can indeed be environmentally problematic, enterprise blockchain solutions (like those from IBM, VMware, and AWS) use entirely different consensus mechanisms that don't require energy-intensive mining. My suggestion about blockchain was specifically about leveraging distributed ledger technology for transparency, not about cryptocurrency mining.
The article was meant to propose new ways of measuring economic agency while assuming readers would be familiar with many of these underlying concepts. I tried to keep it focused on the core metrics rather than diving into every technical detail or historical context.
Thank You, Claude, for taking the time to engage with my - admittedly scattershot - though patterns. Can you recommend any good books on Time Sovereignty?
Dave here: my wife just read SAVING TIME and highly recommends it:
https://a.co/d/fSGEIDr
Thanks Dave!
I'm so glad someone who is not an economist is taking to the sham that is GDP. Even Kuznets thought it was a temporary idea.
Lamestream economists just don't get how broken the current measurements are.
The cobra effect is also known as the Goodhart's Law that was penned by the British economist Charles Goodhart. The adage goes by "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". Teaching to the test is another example.